


Reasons Why

by silverbook



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts, M/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 07:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16363778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverbook/pseuds/silverbook
Summary: Remus likes Marlene McKinnon, he really does. Except he also kinda hates her.





	Reasons Why

The thing was, Remus liked Marlene McKinnon. He really did. She was smart, vivacious and kind. She was good for Sirius: she didn't hero-worship him, or hold him in awe, as many girls, especially in the younger years, tended to do. But nor did she regard him as stupid and immature, as the rest tended to do, which, well, Sirius _was_ immature, Remus admitted. But though he did sometimes act stupid, he wasn’t. He was impulsive, and reckless, and that could come across as stupidity, and okay, sometimes amount to the same thing, or at least create the same results. But he wasn’t stupid, not in the way people thought he was. The point was that Remus thought Marlene was good for Sirius. Certainly compared to some of his past girlfriends.

She gave as good as she got, and kept Sirius on his toes. She made him laugh, and Sirius had taken to bouncing ideas off her for some of their pranks- and she had returned with some brilliant, and frankly terrifying, ideas. Remus enjoyed spending time with her in the Common Room, collaborating on Runes homework usually, and she, in her own way, fitted seamlessly into their little group as a honourary sometimes member, without any of the awkwardness that usually occurred when anyone tried to include a significant other.

So, yes, Remus liked Marlene. But at the same time, a part of him hated her with a fierce passion that surprised himself. Remus was not generally someone who hated people, it was not in his nature, and the feeling made him uncomfortable. But watching Sirius lean over the back of her chair in the Common Room, smiling down at her, as she poked fun at him, made him feel as itchy as if the moon was approaching the horizon, instead of two weeks away.

He thought he’d got over being jealous of Sirius’ relationships, in 5th year, when Sirius had been working his way steadily through most of Hogwarts’ student population above 4th year, and he’d had to build up an immunity and thick skin out of sheer self-defence.  
He also thought he’d managed to put his stupid crush behind him in 6th year. Apparently he’d been wrong on both counts. He breathed out and tried to relax the death-grip he had on his Potions textbook, which briefly tightened again as familiar laughter floated over from the other corner. He’d sworn to himself that he wouldn’t be that friend, the one who ruined their friendship because they couldn’t control their jealousy, or disregarded the importance of what they had, only focusing on what they didn’t have. 

He liked Marlene McKinnon, he really did. But sometimes, he also kind of hated her.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remus glanced up as Sirius collapsed onto the bed beside him. He carefully tugged to extract a few wrinkled pieces of paper from underneath him, and then gave the rest up as a lost cause. Moving his textbook closer to him he waited, prepared to continue working for as long as Sirius would allow him to.

“Moooony.”

Not long then. Remus felt a reluctant smile tug at the edges of his mouth despite himself, and his desire to finish his essay today. 

“Sirius.” He replied, not looking up from the diagram of dittany he was making notes from.

“Moony, I’m bored.” Sirius whined, shuffling closer and causing a collection of scrolls to tumble off the bed.

“Half the castle just ran for cover.”

“Ha. Ha. Prongs is at a Head meeting, and Wormtail’s at study group, so it falls to you to entertain me. You don’t want the consequences on your conscience. Remember what happened last time.” He warned darkly. Remus got up from the bed and started retrieving scrolls, resignedly. 

“No. However, I also don’t want the consequences of not finishing this essay on time. Can you limit the destruction of property, and terrorisation of the masses until, say 9 pm?”

“It goes against my principles to limit the destruction of property, you know that, Moony.”

Remus sighed, and started to fish for a rogue scroll under the bed.

“What about Marlene? Can’t she entertain you for a few hours?”

He stretched his fingers out in an attempt to snag the edge of the parchment, then squeezed his shoulders under the bedframe to gain an extra half-inch.

“webrokeup.”

Remus blinked. The bedframe was digging into his shoulder and starting to cut off his circulation, but he almost had it.

“You what?” he asked, distracted. The bed springs squeaked dangerously close to his head, as Sirius shifted. Remus managed to clasp the very end of the scroll with the very tips of his two middle fingers and started trying to inch it carefully towards himself.

“I said, we broke up.”

“Oh.” The scroll’s edges slipped from his fingers again, but he abandoned it and started to make his way out from under the bed. His stomach swirled with a mixture of guilty joy and sincere worry.

“Yeah.” A squeaking of springs indicated, to Remus’ best guess, that Sirius had fallen backwards onto the bed. Remus managed to extract himself from the bedframe and make his way to collapse on the bed beside Sirius. Together they gazed up at the canopy in silence for a while. 

“I’m sorry.” Remus managed, “I- thought you were good together.” He winced at his feeble attempt at a platitude.

“So did I.” Sirius fiddled with the bedspread absently. He sighed suddenly, “But.”

Remus turned his head to face Sirius, who was still looking steadily up. “But?” he prompted.

Sirius chewed his bottom lip, and Remus had to divert his gaze away. 

“But I don’t feel as… sad as I feel I should. I mean, we were good together, we had lots of fun, the sex was great-”

“Didn't really need to know that.”

“You know I like making you squirm.” Sirius reached over and prodded him gleefully, temporarily regaining his normal cheerful spirit. 

“I do know.” Remus sighed resignedly. “You’d think that after six years, you’d have got over it by now.”

“Aw, but you’re so cute when you blush.”

Remus felt the red on his cheeks heat up even more and thanked Merlin he had already been blushing. Despite the frequency with which Sirius, and James and Peter who occasionally joined in as well, enjoyed making him blush, he had not managed to build up any sort of immunity over the years. He quickly brought their conversation back to the original subject.

“So, you’re not as sad about breaking up with her as you would have expected?”

Sirius lay back down, “No, I’m not. And, I mean, you know in 5th year, I dated and broke up a lot.”

Remus snorted, “Loose terms.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. Fine, so, I hooked up a lot in 5th year, and had a lot of casual relationships. I didn't care then when I broke up, but I didn’t care for any of those girls. I cared for Marlene, so why aren’t I more upset?”

Remus could almost feel his heart clench at the sincerity in Sirius’ voice. He sounded both downcast and confused. He rolled over onto his side to face Sirius, who copied his movement. 

“You and her are still on good terms? You parted amicably?”

“I guess. She said she still wanted to be my friend.” Sirius looked a little confused by this notion.

“So it sounds like the relationship was just coming to an end naturally. Maybe you don’t feel as sad as you expected because this was a natural end. And you haven't lost her. She’s still your friend. Our friend,” he corrected himself, “I hope she is still our friend. That idea she had about planting fake trick fruit in the fruit bowls in the Great Hall,” he shuddered, “I wouldn’t want her pissed at us.” 

He was trying to get Sirius to smile again, and he succeeded. 

“McGonagall’s face was priceless, wasn’t it?”

“Moony?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. You're the best, you know that?”

“Naturally.” Remus tried to play it off, but didn’t think he quite succeeded. “Can I finish my essay in peace now, or is the destruction of property still imminent?”

Sirius rolled back over onto his back, and gestured magnanimously, “You may.”

“Thanks,” Remus replied dryly.

But he found himself unable to concentrate with Sirius a warm weight by his side.


End file.
